Major report warns of "gated" communities

Published: 26 February 2007

Disadvantage multiplies once a community starts to fall behind
according to a major Jesuit and Catholic Social Services-commissioned
"postcode" report moving Jesuit Fr Peter Norden to warn that
communities will increasingly become "gated" if the problems are not
tackled now.

Australia's
neediest communities are being held hostage by a succession of social
ills from joblessness to jail time, child abuse, poor health and
limited education, the study Dropping off the edge shows.

But
the report concludes that careful, long-term intervention by
governments can stop troubled areas from slipping further into distress
and bring them back from the brink.

According to an Age report, project manager Fr Norden said the consequences of inaction for needy communities would be dire.

"If
you don't tackle this in a concerted way now, these communities will
become out of reach of mainstream government programs ... they could
become permanently untouchable," he said. "If you don't, you can start
building more gated communities, prisons and mental health services."

The analysis of 25 disadvantage indicators aims to spur governments to action by revealing where social needs are most acute.

The
report names Australia's 187 most disadvantaged communities and
identifies 22 as priorities for urgent intervention, including Rosebud
and Braybrook in Victoria.

Broadmeadows in Melbourne's North West was identified as the most disadvantaged urban area in the state.

In NSW, the Kempsey area emerges as one of NSW's 40 most socially disadvantaged postcodes, the Sydney Morning Herald
adds. The only Sydney postcodes featured are Mount Druitt, an area
covering 13 suburbs and a population of 57,196, and Claymore.

He found a small number of postcode areas ranked consistently among the most deprived on more than half the measures.

According
to the report, many problems were highly correlated - with child abuse
particularly prevalent in neighbourhoods with multiple social problems.
A lack of internet access was also a strong forecaster of other types
of disadvantage.

But Professor Vinson also found cause for
optimism - that rapid changes can be made and that communities that
foster a stronger sense of cohesion can protect themselves from the
worst effects of unemployment and violence.

"It need not frighten those who control budgets because we are not talking about a huge number of areas," he said.

The
report says slashing chronic disadvantage in the poorest neighbourhoods
will take a long-term investment (at least eight years of sustained
funding for lasting changes), with a heavy focus on health and
education in early childhood.

"What amazes me is the durability
of disadvantage in these communities. It goes on from generation to
generation," Mr Vinson told the Herald.

"People's lives
have not been favourably touched by the income growth and employment
rates of the majority of the society. If anything the web of
disadvantage has become more concentrated."